Carbon based land management		Carbon management by businesses and individuals
	Carbon management in forestry		References

INTRODUCTION

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent of the greenhouse gases which are driving climate change. Humankind is already irrevocably committed to future climate change as a result of past actions but by reducing the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by human activity, the worst outcome can be avoided.

Trees take up CO2 from the atmosphere and release oxygen. Trees and forests are critical to the global carbon cycle; indeed over 70% of total terrestrial carbon is stored in forest soils and biomass. Global deforestation accounts for 30% of all CO2 emissions.

The Trust believes that mitigation of climate change through reduction of CO2 emissions should be tackled through a hierarchy of actions, the most important being reduced energy use, followed by increased energy efficiency, use of renewable energy resources, product substitution, protection of carbon stores, carbon sequestration and carbon offsets.¹
 

CARBON BASED LAND MANAGEMENT

Carbon-based land management is about managing the uptake and release of carbon dioxide from the land in order to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Its objective is to conserve and enhance natural carbon sinks and minimise loss of carbon from carbon sources so as to store carbon for the long term, as well as generating renewable products, such as wood, which substitute for fossil fuel-based products or products whose processing needs large amounts of fossil fuels.

Given the importance of trees, woods and forests in the carbon cycle and the decisions made about their management (i.e.deforestation, restocking and woodland expansion), the Trust believes that carbon-based land management fits into the hierarchy of action required to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere as a bridge between product substitution and protection of carbon stores.

Three broad land-cover types are particularly important in carbon management terms, namely peatlands, farmed land and woodlands. Conservation of peatland is crucial in preventing release of large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, woodland has the greatest role to play in increasing carbon sequestration but the benefits of differential management of farmland for carbon management are less well understood. Carbon based land management can also generate a wealth of other public benefits, such as habitats rich in wildlife which are adaptable to inevitable climatic changes, healthy places for recreation, inspiring landscapes, flood management, soil protection and climatic amelioration in towns.

Carbon management in forestry

The Trust believes that the following actions to minimise loss of carbon from forests and woods are critical:

• Forest protection: the Stern report² recently identified that deforestation was one of the most critical global issues driving climate change. While woodland loss in the UK is low, the Trust remains resolutely opposed to any loss of ancient woodland and will continue to campaign to prevent such losses in the future.
   
• Forest expansion: current rates of afforestation in the UK (approximately 9000 ha per annum) contribute 2-3% of the UK’s Kyoto Protocol commitment to reduce or sequester carbon emissions by 12.5% over 1990 levels. A doubling of woodland planting would increase this contribution and also provide many other benefits to society of direct relevance to a changing climate. But this is a complex area; for example the benefits of forest expansion in sequestering carbon may be nullified at high latitudes where the impact of darker land cover in absorbing heat is significant.
   
• Low intensity forest management systems: forest soils store more carbon than the woody biomass of trees and so intensive forest management systems which damage soils should be avoided. The Trust’s sensitive approach to restoration of planted ancient woodland sites is therefore vindicated on both biodiversity and carbon management grounds.³ In addition there are advantages, in terms of carbon management, in attempting to focus woodland creation, and the inevitable soil disturbance this brings, on inorganic mineral soils (which are low in carbon) currently under arable and improved pasture. Such practice also makes good conservation sense: by tackling habitat fragmentation and reducing the intensity of land use, it helps make the countryside more resilient in the face of climate change.
   
• Product substitution: we support sustainable use and harvesting of timber for the purposes of product substitution e.g. using timber frames in house construction.
   
• Wood fuel production: CO2, is released when wood is burnt, but since trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, wood can be regarded as a renewable source of energy. Moreover, it can require only small amounts of fossil fuels to process and transport wood compared with oil, coal or gas. Since reducing the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy is crucial, harvesting of wood as a substitute is a legitimate part of the shift towards a wider use of renewable energy. But the extraction of wood for biofuel needs to be done sensitively, so that the woodland can continue to absorb carbon after timber has been removed. Short rotation coppice and short rotation forestry, i.e. planting of woody crops for wood fuel can also play a role with suitable environmental safeguards.
   
• Low carbon forestry operations; the Trust is currently looking at how best to reduce its own carbon footprint; one element is to look critically at woodland operations including materials used and contractors’ practices.
   

CARBON MANAGEMENT BY BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS

One of a range of carbon management tools for businesses and individuals seeking to address their carbon emissions or make themselves carbon-neutral is the carbon offset. Offsets in themselves do not reduce emissions; instead they secure a corresponding saving in carbon emissions. Thus carbon offsets seek to neutralise the release of CO2 in one place by avoiding the release of or removing from the atmosphere the same amount of CO2 somewhere else. This can be achieved by investment in energy efficiency programmes, sustainable development projects or tree planting. A number of organisations offer carbon offsets for purchase by individuals or companies.

Overview of Trust position
The Trust believes carbon offsets should come last in a carbon reduction strategy. Thus carbon offsets should be used to compensate for residual emissions, i.e. those which will inevitably occur even after reasonable steps have been taken to reduce emissions. The Trust believes that offsets can be important in

• raising public and business awareness of climate change
• prompting examination of how reductions can be made
• making a small but genuine saving in CO2 emissions

Tree planting as a form of carbon offset
Tree planting is one of many types of carbon offset.⁴ There has been criticism of some tree planting schemes as a form of carbon offsetting in the media in recent times and tree planting has been excluded for some time from one of best known voluntary benchmarks for high quality carbon offset projects⁵. A recent statement from a group of environmental NGOs identified four reasons why they do not support tree planting as carbon offsets⁶:

• it cannot be guaranteed that a new forest will be permanent
• amounts of CO2 which forests can absorb vary enormously
• the environmentally negative impacts of plantation monocultures undermine benefits derived from carbon sequestration
• buying forestry offsets does not lessen dependence on fossil fuels.

UK forestry has one of the most highly regulated and most comprehensive policy frameworks in the world. In a UK context permanence and negative impacts of plantation monocultures are not substantive reasons. So the Trust believes UK forestry offset projects are valid and should be supported if:

• the activity is additional to that which would otherwise occur with the funds raised being used directly in the offset project
• the woodland is permanent; for instance, it is maintained as woodland under a continuous cover forestry regime
• the carbon captured above ground and in forest soils is verifiable, i.e. estimated according to a recognised calculation methodology
• the woodland is planted on mineral soils that have a low carbon content
• the total amount of carbon which is offset during the life of the new woodland is sold at the outset of the project life (assumed to be 100 years) in year 1 to avoid any possibility of resale of offsets and double counting

Over the past few years we have developed our own carbon offset product, Carbonplus+, which also provides additional and substantial environmental benefits not guaranteed by other tree planting offset products. The income from this sale of product is directly invested into our woodland creation programme. Because this is an offset product we place great emphasis on understanding a company’s approach to reducing its emissions as well as providing the ability to offset residual emissions. So to ensure that our product is sold as part of a package of measures to reduce company emissions we:

• insist that companies have audited their carbon emissions before buying Carbonplus+
• encourage them to take steps to reduce their emissions based on the results of the audit
• encourage them to develop employee buy-in to programmes and to engage stakeholders to reduce emissions too.

Current & future developments

In the public mind, trees are closely associated with their ability to take and store carbon. However Defra’s proposal⁷ to confine voluntary accreditation of carbon offset products to overseas activities excluding forestry is hard to understand. It denies the desire of many in the UK who wish to offset their carbon within this country and of course tree planting in the UK can be just as valid and just as verifiable as offsetting projects overseas. Indeed the Government already uses carbon captured by current woodland expansion as part of compliance towards its Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction targets.

But even if, as the Trust hopes, tree planting in the UK is recognised as a contribution to a carbon emission reductions strategy, it is clear that there are some testing issues related to the provision of any offset programmes to companies and individuals. For example what is the definition of residual emissions, i.e. how does one establish that a particular journey or product which creates carbon emissions is “necessary”, and thereby justifies an offset? Most emissions are avoidable by drastic changes to the way we live but public acceptance of the changes that need to be made to reach a low carbon economy is currently some way off.

Of course emissions that are regarded as unavoidable today may become recognised as avoidable tomorrow as technology develops further, as social norms change and as companies and individuals become prepared to move the bar higher in relation to their own practices. The important principle is that we believe that offsetting should be seen as part of a package of actions by both individuals and companies to reduce their carbon footprints rather than as a way of salving the conscience by paying to continue environmentally damaging activity.

But however important individual and business actions are, climate change is such a complex and challenging issue that it is right to look to Government to take the lead in pushing through emissions reductions legislation, policy and incentives.

References:

1. Woodland Trust (2005) Position statement on climate change woodlandtrust.org.uk/campaigns
2. Stern (2006) The economics of climate change HM Treasury
3. Woodland Trust Position statement on planted ancient woodland sites woodlandtrust.org.uk/campaigns
4. A comprehensive list of offset types is contained within The Carbon Trust (2006) The Carbon Trust three stage approach to developing a robust offsetting strategy.
5. www.cdmgoldstandard.org
6. WWF, FoE, Greenpeace
7. Defra (2007) Consultation on establishing a voluntary code of best practice for the provision of carbon offsetting to UK customers